A Whimsical, Romantic Wedding at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, Florida

While boating with friends in Miami, Jordana Contrucci was introduced to a “cute guy with an accent.” He asked for her number and invited her to dinner the following evening. “My friends said that the chemistry was so intense that it seemed like we had been dating for years,” says Jordana of that first day with Raul Ruiz. “It was so easy, fun, romantic and perfect.”

From then on, they were a couple—albeit a long-distance one with Raul in Dallas and Jordana in South Florida finishing dental to their married life: protection, laughter and the ability to make any sadness disappear.

While in Mexico City, he used the ruse of having friends who knew circus owners that would let he and Jordana participate during a practice to get her to the circus. It was there that the video he had filmed was played and he asked for her hand in marriage. Both their families were there as a surprise to Jordana and an engagement party followed that night.

Miami was the location of their May nuptials. The wedding weekend included a rehearsal dinner at Cipriani, a bridesmaids’ lunch and a fiesta on Friday night. The Four Seasons Hotel Miami was the set school. For two years they traveled back and forth on weekends, never going longer than a few weeks without seeing each other. The couple knew early on that they would marry. “We share the same values, religion and ideas, and we are on the same page about what things should be a priority in life,” adds Raul.

Knowing the importance of family to Jordana, Raul asked not only her father for his daughter’s hand in marriage but her entire family. He spent eight months planning a one-week trip. Raul and a film crew flew to three different states so he could ask family members in person for their permission to marry her. With a circus theme, Raul dressed as a lion tamer, clown and a magician—each character representing what he would bring ting for their whimsical and romantic wedding day. The 260 guests were treated to a feast of such delicacies as filet, lobster, three macaron towers, cake pops, cheesecake and more. The after-party, la hora loca (Spanish for “the crazy hour”) included dancers, drummers, stilt walkers, a DJ, snacks and trays of custom gummy bear flavored shots. 

Important to the groom was a band that could play Latin music and Higher Ground delivered. The Spanish drink, carajillo, was one of the libations: “We Mexicans love to have this drink after dinner,” adds Raul.

“I was so excited and happy,” says Jordana of the wedding day. “There was so much love that whole weekend that our hopes and prayers are for that love to follow us all of our lives.” Following the wedding, the newlyweds spent June on their honeymoon traveling to Japan, China, Thailand and Dubai. Returning home to Dallas together, their years of long-distance romance had finally come to an end.

“Jordana is everything that I always wanted,” says Raul. “I feel very excited, because every day—good or bad—is another step to get closer to each goal that we want to accomplish.”